Benzinga | Jan 12, 2022 11:06AM EST

PayPal Holdings Whale Trades Spotted

Someone with a lot of money to spend has taken a bullish stance on PayPal Holdings (NASDAQ:PYPL).

And retail traders should know.

We noticed this today when the big position showed up on publicly available options history that we track here at Benzinga.

Whether this is an institution or just a wealthy individual, we don't know. But when something this big happens with PYPL, it often means somebody knows something is about to happen.

So how do we know what this whale just did?

Today, Benzinga's options scanner spotted 15 uncommon options trades for PayPal Holdings.

This isn't normal.

The overall sentiment of these big-money traders is split between 60% bullish and 40%, bearish.

Out of all of the special options we uncovered, 6 are puts, for a total amount of $299,702, and 9 are calls, for a total amount of $750,122.

What's The Price Target?

Taking into account the Volume and Open Interest on these contracts, it appears that whales have been targeting a price range from $150.0 to $270.0 for PayPal Holdings over the last 3 months.

Volume & Open Interest Development

In terms of liquidity and interest, the mean open interest for PayPal Holdings options trades today is 6407.07 with a total volume of 2,165.00.

In the following chart, we are able to follow the development of volume and open interest of call and put options for PayPal Holdings's big money trades within a strike price range of $150.0 to $270.0 over the last 30 days.

PayPal Holdings Option Volume And Open Interest Over Last 30 Days

Biggest Options Spotted:

Symbol PUT/ Trade Sentiment Exp. Strike Total Trade Open Volume CALL Type Date Price Price InterestPYPL CALL SWEEP BULLISH 01/14/ $160.00 $287.4K 258 151 22PYPL PUT SWEEP BEARISH 02/18/ $220.00 $136.5K 14.5K 42 22PYPL CALL SWEEP BEARISH 01/20/ $150.00 $114.5K 2.5K 159 23PYPL CALL SWEEP BULLISH 02/04/ $195.00 $101.7K 466 229 22PYPL CALL SWEEP BEARISH 01/21/ $185.00 $57.1K 20.7K 289 22

Where Is PayPal Holdings Standing Right Now?

* With a volume of 4,675,076, the price of PYPL is down -2.61% at $186.53.

* RSI indicators hint that the underlying stock is currently neutral between overbought and oversold.

* Next earnings are expected to be released in 21 days.

What The Experts Say On PayPal Holdings:

* BMO Capital upgraded its action to Outperform with a price target of $224

* Wedbush has decided to maintain their Outperform rating on PayPal Holdings, which currently sits at a price target of $220.

* Jefferies downgraded its action to Hold with a price target of $200

* Raymond James has decided to maintain their Outperform rating on PayPal Holdings, which currently sits at a price target of $229.

* Mizuho has decided to maintain their Buy rating on PayPal Holdings, which currently sits at a price target of $225.

Options are a riskier asset compared to just trading the stock, but they have higher profit potential. Serious options traders manage this risk by educating themselves daily, scaling in and out of trades, following more than one indicator, and following the markets closely.

If you are already an options trader or would like to get started, head on over to Benzinga Pro. Benzinga Pro gives you up-to-date news and analytics to empower your investing and trading strategy.